


Cause We All Have Wings

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Series: Aftermath Chaos [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Because this fic is about Shiro, Gen, I'll tell you more about that in the notes, Implied Death, It's interesting, Keith is the designated driver, Lance gets drunk on one glass, Probably PTSD, it's hilarious, so does Hunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 07:12:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9982325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Okay. (Deep breath) Last one, here we go. If you want to take my quiz, as advertised in sitting on the sea, go to Quotev.com and look up What do the paladins think of you. I'll have my same username, thegalrahobbitofplanetgallifrey, and th name will be lily potter.





	1. Not All That Glitters Is Gold

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. (Deep breath) Last one, here we go. If you want to take my quiz, as advertised in sitting on the sea, go to Quotev.com and look up What do the paladins think of you. I'll have my same username, thegalrahobbitofplanetgallifrey, and th name will be lily potter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I was drunk when I wrote this or something.

“Lance, that is the last time I _ever_ let you have some alcohol.”

            “It wuz justs a glo-gle-glass. Jest one, Shiro. I promise I didn’t have no more, honest!” Lance’s words were slurred, and he was leaning very heavily on Shiro. Hunk wasn’t much better. Teenagers.

            “Shiro, look at me, I’ma, I’m a Weblem! I’m gonna evolve into a butterfly, whee!” Keith was waiting back at his hover bike, which had miraculously survived its ten-minute trip from DC to Corpus. He smirked.

            “Can’t hold their liquor?”

            “It’sh not funny, Kogane, not funny at all! Yer a Garera, no, Galera, Galra! You don’t know what ush humans do after jusht one glass!”

            “Shiro is fine.”

            “Shiro, it’sh his arm, it’sh keeping him okay, that’sh it! Cause it’sh alien!”

            “Right. Absolutely.”

            “Don’t get sharcastic wit me, Kogane!” Shiro snorted, before loading the two boys onto the hover bike.

            “Coming, Shiro?”

            “Nah, I’m going to stay a little longer. Take them back to Leah’s and tell her I ordered her to chew them out. That’ll sober them up.”

            “Okay. What time should I come back for you?”

            “You don’t need to come back for me. I’m perfectly capable of keeping myself sober, thank you.”

            Two hours later, Shiro stumbled out of the bar, singing the Bonanza theme. Keith was waiting for him, grinning.

            “Need a ride?”

            “Shut up, Kogane,” Shiro grumbled as, after three tries, he pulled himself up onto the bike. “Just shut up.” He felt like he was going to throw up the whole ride back, and when he was back at Leah’s house, Keith gleefully turned him over to Leah for his tongue-lashing. After that horror, Shiro fell right asleep on his sleeping bag.

            Oooh, his head _hurt_! What terrible creature was banging on the inside of his skull, and how had it gotten there? Keith handed Shiro a cup of coffee. Shiro felt _terrible._ Now he knew why his parents always told him to drink responsibly. If they could see him now, they would have a heart attack. Although he did take certain pride in not having become a dizzy drunk after one glass like Hunk and Lance.

The two of them wandered downstairs, holding their heads from the hangover. Pidge and Keith were both smirking, watching the three of them slump at the kitchen table.

“Did we learn our lesson,” Pidge asked sweetly, “Or are we going to spend another wild night in Texas bars tonight?”

“Pidge, don’t talk so loud.”

“Did we learn our lesson?”

“Yes,” all three of them grumbled, “No more bars.” Leah walked in, slamming the door behind her. All three of them winced.

“Leah, could you tone it down a bit?”

“NO,” she shouted, “ALL OF YOU ARE IDIOTS! I am _not_ changing my ways because ya’ll decided to get drunk!”

Lance winced. “Me and Hunk had _one_ glass!”

“Ya’ll can’t even hold your alcohol. You are pathetic.”

“We know,” Hunk and Lance grumbled, “And we are never touching alcohol again.” Leah disappeared into the deep recesses of the kitchen, beckoning for Keith and Pidge to join her. Shiro put his head down on the table. Ugh.

“Can we agree,” he mumbled, “That we are _never_ telling Allura about this?”

“Oh, Quiznek, no.” Lance looked positively horrified at the thought. “We would _never_ hear the end of it!” Hunk grunted in acknowledgement.

Something cold splashed over Shiro’s head and he sat up sputtering. Pidge was standing behind him with an upturned bucket. He could feel ice sliding down and he blinked water out of his eyes. Lance and Hunk had received the same treatment from Keith and Leah.

“You don’t have to look so happy, Keith,” Lance grumbled, “It’s not that funny. That was mean.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Pidge shot at him, “I was under the impression that the guardian of water would enjoy that.

Lance groaned and covered his ears. “Please, no savagery this early in the morning.”

“Lance, it’s eleven-o-clock.”

“Twenty-four hours too early.” Shiro agreed with the blue paladin. If he was going to wake up like this, any time in the morning was too early.

“Wake me up again at dinnertime,” he grumbled, “Goodnight.” Another bucket of ice water cascaded over his head.

“Ah!”

“Nope, no sleeping. Oh, and by the way, Lance,” Leah shot over her shoulder, “Katherine was released from the police station. She’s coming over today. Just so you know.”

Lance flopped onto the table. “Great. She _would_ come today when I’ve got hangover.” Shiro grunted in reply. It was the most sympathy he could give right now. Keith followed Leah to wherever she was going.

“Keith shouldn’t get to laugh,” Shiro mumbled, “I’m sure he did something like this at some point.”

“No, I didn’t Shiro!” Shiro cursed. He’d forgotten the red paladin’s hearing abilities. “Oh, hey, watch your language! You’ll ruin Pidge’s innocence!”

“Stop eavesdropping, Keith. And Pidge was never innocent.” Shiro flipped on the news.

“-And today there was a sighting of the alien witch, by the name of Haggar.” Shiro sat up straight. This was what they’d been waiting for. “She was spotted in the Corpus Christi area in Texas, so Texans of that area are warned to keep an eye out.” Here. In Corpus. She was looking for them. What would happen when she found them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so we think that Shiro would never get drunk, he's too responsible, but he just helped save the world. I'm sure there were a bunch of people offering him drinks, and he was too polite to refuse.


	2. The Road Goes Ever On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, so we actually meet Katherine. So, all of these chapter titles are going to be lines from the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit books. Also, Hunk, Lance and Shiro with hangover is the best thing ever. So, for anyone who doesn't know the Bonanza theme from last chapter, it essentially goes "I've got a flair for women everywhere, Bon-an-za! I'm not afraid of any pretty maid, Bon-an-zuh!" So just imagine Shiro stumbling out of a bar, singing that. I died laughing.

“Hello, Lance. I see you’ve had a fun night out.”

Lance groaned. “Hi, Katherine. Long time no see. Sorry about getting you, you know, arrested and all. I feel pretty bad about that.”

She laughed. “Wow, you must really feel awful if you’re not starting out flirting. Apology accepted. I mean, what’re friends for, if not getting arrested for each other! Going to introduce me to your friends?”

“Oh, yeah! This one’s Hunk; he’s the heart. I’ve told you about him before.”

“Yeah. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Hunk smiled as best he could. “Likewise. I heard a whole bunch about you. Lance’s awesome girlfriend.”

“Okay, this one trying to go to sleep on the table, which means his head is due for another bucket of ice water, is Shiro, our fearless leader.”

Shiro grunted. “I’m not trying to sleep. I’m contemplating my life, and how I ended up with all of you. Nice to meet you though, Katherine.”

“Right, if you see a short girl with glasses, probably on a laptop, that’s Pidge. And the emo you’ll probably see lurking in a corner somewhere is Keith.”

“I’m not an emo!” Shiro grinned, before grimacing in pain at the movement.

“Scratch that, the emo with incredibly good hearing. And of course you know Leah. Also, if you see a blue alien anywhere, that’s Tiana. She’s pretty shy, though, so don’t scare her.” He hugged Katherine. “It’s good to see you, Kat.”

“Aww, you two are so cute!” Hunk was beaming with happiness

“And _not_ together.”

Pidge started up. “Lance and Katherine sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love-”

Shiro covered up Pidge’s mouth. “Nope. Not doing that.” She drooped and groaned. Shiro smiled. “Sorry.”

Katherine laughed, tossing her hair back behind her shoulder. “Nah, it’s fine. I don’t mind. Little sibling thing to do. I guess you’re Pidge?”

“Yup. You can call me Katie, though, if that’s, I don’t know, less weird.”

“I think Pidge is a _great_ name. So I hear you’re the hacker of the group.” Pidge’s eyes lit up as she started her favorite topic: computers. The tiny paladin began explaining every part of hacking, while Katherine listened politely.

“Wow, that’s a lot to know for a… you’re seventeen?”

Pidge beamed, seeming glad to have her age _over_ estimated for one. “No, I’m only sixteen.” Shiro smiled. He could see how this was going. Katherine was deliberately disarming Pidge, complimenting her where it mattered, getting on her friendly side. He chuckled to himself. This girl could _definitely_ go into politics is she wanted. Could probably become the president. Shiro chuckled again as he thought, unashamedly, that _he_ , at least, would vote for her.

“Wow. All that at age sixteen? I still have trouble getting e-mails to send, or downloading things onto flash drives. That’s incredible.” Pidge looked like a happy puppy dog.

 _Well,_ thought Shiro, _You’ve earned yourself a friend, Katherine. You’ve definitely got Pidge’s blessing on a relationship between you and Lance, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to push him into one._ He would save his own judgement until after she’d met Keith, however. If she could coax _him_ out of his shell, she would have Shiro’s undying respect for the rest of his life.

“She’s not even trying to hide.” Shiro looked at the TV screen. Keith was right. Haggar could shapeshift if she wanted to, so why was she making herself blatantly obvious?

“She’s trying to lure us out, to get us in the open so she can attack.”

Lance wandered in. “Well, it’s working on me. I just want to get rid of her so I can live my life. Watch out witch, here comes the blue paladin. Pow, pow, hi-yah, dead witch, the crowd goes wild! Yaaaay! Go, Lance! We love you!” Shiro and Keith just stared at him. “What?”

Keith turned back to Shiro. “The problem is, she’s clever. She knows how we work. What if she knew we’d sit here, thinking that she’s trying to lure us out, and we’re an easy target sitting in this house.”

“Chicken or the egg scenario, Keith. We could go in that pattern for days. And I’m sure you’d be stubborn enough to do it.” Keith smiled a little. “Anyway, we _will_ attack her, but we need to set our own place and time. Wait for the right moment. Remember…”

“Patience yields focus. I know.”

“Ooo, nice. I suppose you taught him that fancy little bit of advice, Shiro?”

Shiro turned to face Leah. “Sometimes you are as bad as Lance.”

 She put a hand to her heart. “I’m wounded, Shiro. How could you say such a terrible thing about another person?”

“Hey!”

“Sorry Lance,” yelled Pidge from the kitchen, where she was taking apart Katherine’s laptop and putting it back together again, “But it’s kinda true!” He grumbled something and moodily slouched to the kitchen to annoy Pidge.

“Okay. So, these are the places she’s been sighted. Each time, she gets closer to where we are. She wants to put us under pressure, to let us know she’s getting closer. The best plan of action for now is to stay where we are and prepare for her to show up. Leah, I’m sorry, we might end up trashing your house.”

“As long as you trash and then fix it within two weeks, I’m good. What my parents don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“Alright. Allura and the castle should be here in a few days. If we hold off attacking until they arrive, they can help us, and we’ll have the lions for backup. But until then, we need to wait and train.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Katherine and Pidge's relationship. Also, after watching Escape from Beta Traz again, I am fairly certain Lance is ADD, and needs some medication.


	3. On the Path from Which It Begun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay! Katherine/Keith bonding time! Also, Shiro and Keith backstory!

Shiro watched out the window as Katherine tentatively went out to watch Keith. He briefly wondered if he should make popcorn to watch her try to bond with Keith, but dismissed the idea. He did have to keep up his reputation as a stoic, serious leader. Pidge went out as well, which made Shiro smile. She had really taken a shine to Katherine, and practically worshiped the older girl, who acted as the older sister she never had. Keith was busy punching the crud out of a punching bag, and didn’t even notice they were there.

 After a while, he activated his bayard and began slicing at a block of wood he’d set up. Shiro chuckled. Katherine had gone out there to meet Keith, and he had absolutely no idea she was there. It reminded Shiro of how Keith had been at the Garrison.

____________

 

“Shiro?” Shiro looked up from his lunch to see Keith standing there awkwardly in the doorway with a tray of food.

“Hey, buddy! What’s up?”

“Can I sit here with you?”

Shiro sighed. “Keith, we talked about this. You have to sit with your class.”

“I don’t really want to, though.”

“Why not? They haven’t bullied you, have they?”

“No. I just feel awkward.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know any of them, and I don’t know who already has friends or anything.”

“Why don’t you sit with your flight group?”

He shrugged. “They just kind of… exist.”

“Exist.”

“Yeah, like… you know, I don’t hate them, but they’re not my friends. They just… are.”

Shiro smiled gently at him. “Okay, Let’s make a deal. You sit in there for two weeks, and if _no one_ comes and talks to you _at all_ , I will never nag you about it again.” Keith smiled happily, as if he were sure Shiro would lose this one.

“Okay.”

The next two weeks, Shiro ate his lunch in the cadets’ cafeteria. Keith sat in whatever corner he could, as far away from people as possible and glared at anyone who got close. But one day a dark-haired girl bounced up and started talking to him. Shiro recognized her as the mechanic of Keith’s group, and he smiled. Clearly _she_ was perfectly willing to make friends. Keith answered any questions she asked, but didn’t engage in the conversation beyond that. Shiro rolled his eyes. Stubborn introvert. After a bit, she flounced off to talk to someone else, and Shiro raised his eyebrows at Keith, who responded with an eye-roll and a huff. Shiro smiled. He was never going to change.

____________

 

“Need a sparring partner?” Keith looked up from his block of wood. Was this blonde girl talking to him? “I mean, I suppose I’m better than a block of wood.”

He grunted. “Maybe.”

“So, should I… go away, or…” her voice trailed off. He considered her offer for a moment. On one hand, he could practice with a living, moving person. On the other hand, he would have to interact with said person. Not exactly his strong suit.

“Sure. Do you have a sword?”

“Hold on, I think… Leah!” Oh. One of Leah’s friends? Or… ah. Katherine. Lance’s ex.

“Hey, what’s up, Kat?” Oh, yeah, definitely Katherine.

“Hey, this is a weird request, but do you have a sword lying around?”

“Oh, yeah, actually, I do. I was in a medieval phase once. Made some catapults, giant crossbows, that kind of thing. But I also made some swords. Let’s go get you one. The two girls wandered off. Keith resumed hacking at his lump of wood.

“Okay, ready!” Katherine now had a sword, and her hair was up in a bun where it wouldn’t get in the way. Keith lunged at her, and she danced out of the way. Fast. Relies on speed. Not strong, prefers to tire her opponents by keeping out of the way. He would have to get her engaged, and then disarm her, while she was trying to escape. He moved his sword and she stepped to the side, but his blade quickly changed direction, clanging against hers, as she brought it up to defend herself. Their blades flashed in deadly arcs, clanging, clashing. Beautiful, yet terrifying. With a twist of his blade, she was disarmed. She stared at the sword on the ground, before looking up, her eyes bright.

“Show me how you did that!”

“See if you can spot it this time.” She picked up the sword, and they began again, the swords once again in their dance. He twisted in the same way, and she smiled, obviously seeing how it worked, even as the sword clattered to the ground. She picked it up again.

“Again.” This time, when Keith twisted, she flicked the sword away, sidestepping the blade at the same time, before launching a counter attack. Keith blocked, and he saw her preparing to twist her own blade. She learned _fast_. He countered with a twist of his blade in the opposite direction, and she was disarmed again.

“How did you know what I was about to do?”

“You looked at your blade and your wrist twitched. Telltale signs that you’re about to twist.”

“That’s amazing. Again.” He smiled. She wasn’t giving up until she defeated him. He liked this girl.

Shiro smiled. She had done it. She had appealed to his stubborn, fighting nature, and had gained his trust. Which had taken Shiro a _month_ to do. This girl was something. He could see why Lance liked her. Pidge got up, interested in what the two older teens were doing, and soon Keith had his own sword fighting seminar going.

When they all stopped, too tired to go on, they all wore big grins, even Lance, who had been beaten by Pidge twice, Katherine three times, and ten times by Keith. He had beaten Hunk once though, and that one victory (even though Hunk had beaten him once as well), had made him happy. Meanwhile, Pidge was promising to teach them all basic hacking, while Hunk was offering basic cooking, and Lance basic shooting. Shiro sighed happily. This was how the paladins should be. And nothing should change that, should the world end tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I just based Keith's actions on my own as a high-schooler. Sit in an isolated corner with my two friends and clam up whenever anyone else gets close.


	4. Not All Who Wander Are Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I said PTSD, and here it is, also Shiro as a space dad, the best dad ever, telling his kids scary bedtime stories. and all of the paladins as good little space children.

Shiro screamed. The pain, all the pain, flooding through his arm, dulling everything else. There was nothing else, just the pain. He whimpered, sure the pain would kill him, he was dying, did no one care?

“Shut up, ‘Champion.’ Emperor Zarkon wants you to be upgraded, and you will accept this burden for the glory of the Galra Empire!”

“It’s… It’s not _my_ Empire.” Shiro gasped as the druid slapped him across the face.

“I’d considered knocking you out, but I think I’ll keep you awake, as we attach your nerves, one by one. Teach you to talk back to your masters!” Shiro screamed as a fresh wave of agony swept across him.

“Shut up. That was only the first nerve. What kind of a weakling are you?” Shiro screamed until his voice stopped, until he was hoarse, and no one cared.

“Shiro! Shiro!” Shiro started awake. All of the paladins were around him, their eyes wide with worry.

“Shiro, what’s the matter?”

He tried for a smile. “Nothing, just a nightmare, I’m fine.” Pidge crossed her arms.

“Oh, no you don’t. This is the opposite of fine. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I’m okay! I’m always okay, I’m the king of okay!” he frowned. “Ugh, that’s a _terrible_ name, forget that name.”

“ _Shiro._ ”

“I’m _fine_ ,” he insisted. He couldn’t put this on them. They were all just teenagers, teenagers who had saved the universe, sure. But still not even old enough to drink without a parent’s permission, barely old enough to vote, not even that old in Pidge’s case, too young to legally own a gun, they were too young. He was an adult, he could handle this by himself.

“Guys?” Leah. What was wrong now? “I burned the milk, so, yeah. No warm milk.” Shiro closed his eyes and smiled, shaking his head. That girl. “He smiled didn’t he? I got him to smile didn’t I? Keith, you owe me ten bucks!”

“How do you burn milk by putting it in the microwave?!”

“I’m talented.” She wandered out of the kitchen. “Shiro, I know what you’re thinking. They’re too young. And you are absolutely right. But they also care about you more than anyone else in the world, in even the universe. You can tell them _anything_. I haven’t known you that long, but even I know that much. Just… trust them. Okay? If you do, I’ll forgive Keith his ten bucks.”

“How can I refuse _that_ offer?”

She smiled briefly, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Go on. They’ll understand. Look at them. They just want to help.” Shiro looked at his team, his family. She was right. The only thing Shiro saw on any of their faces was concern, love for their leader. He melted. They were young. But they were also wise beyond their years, they’d seen things, learned things, things even adults didn’t know. And they knew him. They would never give up until they’d done everything they could for him. And so he began.

He told them everything, everything he remembered, all of the nightmares, all of the experiences. They were good listeners. Shiro knew some of them thought of him as “the dad,” and he wondered what kind of a bedtime story he was telling his kids, before clearing that disturbing thought out of his head. He got to his latest nightmare, and he hesitated. They didn’t need to know that.

Then Pidge quietly climbed onto his lap and leaned onto him, and they all came crowding around him, Hunk on one side, Keith on the other, their arms encircling him, with Lance sitting on his legs, looking at Shiro like an expectant puppy. Shiro started to choke up. They were the best family he could’ve ever wanted, even more than he had ever imagined.

“You know you can tell us, Shiro. You can tell us anything.” Shiro closed his eyes, and two tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes. What had he ever done to deserve these great kids in his life? The latest nightmare came pouring out of his mouth, and they all came in closer, enclosing them in their love. He hugged them all close to him, glad that they were there, glad of the comfort they offered. They were his family. His team. And nothing could _ever_ take them away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You did everything to deserve those great kids, Shiro. EVERYTHING. The "I'm the king of okay" was a reference to Doctor Who, cause I'm a nerd. All this stress on unity and team and family and never being separated will come into play later, when I... Heheheheheh. shutting up now. I purposely didn't tell you who said that Shiro could tell them anything, just for fun. Feel free to let your imagination run wild on that one. Could be Leah, for all I care.


	5. Home Is Behind, the World Ahead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drowning imagery in this one, because that is the one near-death experience I have experienced, and therefore can portray accurately.

“That’s it. There are news cameras outside my house, and that stupid witch was spotted nearby. I’m going to kill her. I don’t care about waiting for her anymore, I’m going to kill her. Along with the first reporter who steps on my plants, because Tiana will be _super_ upset, and I paid a _lot_ for those on the alien black market.”

Tiana smiled briefly before going back to examining Shiro’s stomach. “You were drinking! That’s not good for this bullet hole!”

“I thought alcohol was good for cleaning wounds. Ouch!”

“That was stupid of you. Now, your doctor is telling you no more alcohol until this wound is healed!”

“Come on. Texans are very persuasive about drinks.”

“No, we’re not. You’re just too polite to refuse.”  
“Guilty as charged.”

“Now!” Tiana wrapped him back up again. “No more drinking!”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Lance sniggered.

“Don’t you laugh. It’s your turn.”

Leah ruffled Shiro’s hair before heading towards the door while grabbing a wrench. “I’m going to scare some reporters off my lawn. See you. Oh, and there’s some frozen pancakes in the freezer. I have instructions for the microwave taped to it.” She slammed the door behind her, and he could hear her start to yell.

            “Does she think we were born yesterday and can’t use a microwave?” Lance stood up and stretched, Tiana done with his shoulder. “Anyone else want a pancake?” Pidge nodded, as did Keith and Shiro. Hunk passed. Lance nodded and sauntered into the kitchen. It wasn’t long before Shiro heard his voice again.

            “Holy crow! This explains why we need instructions! This thing goes to ‘cook your popcorn in point-five seconds because of the intense heat’! I can’t read these! I don’t read inventor! You need an advanced degree in quantum physics or something! Pidge help me out here!”

            “No. I’m busy.”

            “Fine. Your pancakes are on the line.”

            “Never mind, I’m coming.” She shut her laptop and hurried to the kitchen.

            “Yeah, no, this isn’t inventor language, Lance, this is bad handwriting. Come on, Leah, it’s I _before_ E! and you _drop_ your Es’ _before_ adding ing. Bad spelling too.”

            “Oh, yeah. She’s dysgraphic.”

            “Speak English, Keith. I’m not a biologist.”

            “She suffers from dysgraphia.”

            “ _English!”_

            “She has bad spelling and handwriting.”

            “Well, yeah, even _I_ could see _that_.” Keith rolled his eyes towards heaven and face-palmed. Shiro shook his head, smiling, before getting up to help them. Holy crow was right. These instructions were a _mess_. And the microwave itself wasn’t much better. Shiro could now see how she had burned milk. Speak, or thought, of the devil, Leah herself marched in.

            “What is wrong with ya’ll? It’s not rocket science!” She put the bag in the microwave, pushed about ten different buttons, smacked the microwave, and pressed start. The pancakes were done within seconds, and she rolled her eyes with a huff. “Can’t you read instructions?”

“Your handwriting is worse than a kindergartener’s!”  
“ _Thank you_! Everybody keeps telling me it’s worse than a three-year-old’s, but I say no, it’s at _least_ as good as a four-year-old’s!”

“That’s not something to be proud of!” A sudden explosion sent them all running to the window.

“Haggar!”

“Alright, team! Let’s finish this!” They raced out, grabbing their bayards. Their first big mistake.

“What’s wrong, paladins? Can’t move?” All five of the paladins were stuck in glowing energies. They’d run right into her web. And now they were caught like flies. Great. Shiro struggled valiantly, but nothing he did made a difference. It would take a miracle to help them right now. A miracle or the castle. Then Leah happened. She chucked her wrench, as hard as she could, at Haggar. The witch let out a cry and stumbled to her knees, releasing Shiro from captivity, dropping all the other paladins as well, although they had taken the brunt of the magic, leaving them unconscious. She shot lightning at Leah, who barely dodged, singing the ends of her hair.

“Alright, Leah! Get in the house! Keep Tiana safe!” She nodded and bolted for the safety of her house, leaving Shiro and the witch.

“It always comes to this, doesn’t it? The Champion and the Druid. But this is the last time! This is the time I’ll destroy you! And I’ll do it with your own friends!” a bolt of magic hit Lance, and the landscape around Shiro changed, shifting to the castle, in the control room. He saw the fake Rover, floating towards the crystal, and his eyes widened. He ran, as fast as he could away from what he knew would happen. It exploded, and the blast shoved him forward. He rolled when he hit the ground and the scene shifted to the Balmera, robots aiming guns at him. Hunk. They fired, and the nets wrapped around him. With a hum, his arm quickly got rid of them, but it was already changing, alone in a floating junkyard. Pidge. The debris floated at him, knocking into him, losing his breath. Before he could regain it, he was in a pool, drowning. He frantically kicked, breaking to the surface, gulping air, grabbing for the edge before the weight of his metal arm pulled him down again. _Why, Keith? Why did you have to dream about this particular moment?_ He could see the light on the surface and kicked again, swallowing water before he reached the surface, another grab, another gulp, sinking again. Swallowing water, panicking, starting to black out. No coherent thought, just blind panic. But then someone was in the pool next to him, pulling him out. Lance. Thank goodness for Keith dreaming it exactly as it happened. The whole thing disappeared as it ceased to be frightening.

“No! I will kill you with my bare hands!” Shiro coughed up water, unable to fight back. Haggar advanced, ready to kill him. And then she looked up, yellow eyes widening and she disappeared, Katherine behind her, and twisted look of hate on her face and a sword in her hand.

“Stupid witch. _No one_ messes with my friends and gets away with it.” The other paladins sat up, groaning. They looked around.

“Where… how…”

“Alright. We have to focus. Pidge, is the castle in range?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell Allura where we’re going.”

“But… Where _are_ we going?”

Leah came running out of the house. “Guys, she’s attacking the capital! Everything is chaos!”

“Pidge, tell Allura we’re going to Houston. It’s time to end this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might think that there was absolutely no reason for the dysgraphia scene, but it had some purpose in my mind; I'm dysgraphic. So, this is like, I made a character who deals with dysgraphia, and she's brilliant, and an amazing inventor despite it. so, she's like my personal hero. Because you can't even tell she has a learning disorder until you see her writing, but of course that's almost all they care about in school. One of the problems with dysgraphia is that it prevents me from getting thoughts on paper, so this is kind of my way of trying to cope with it. Of saying ha, dysgraphia, suck this. And yelling at all the teachers who told me that I was stupid, or lazy, or just not trying hard enough. So please, excuse any terrible story telling, because dysgraphia also causes people to give too many details, or not enough, and I'm so sorry for any of that.


	6. Mist and Shadow, Cloud and Shade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So remember how I said that the whole teamwork unity would come back? Here it is.

“Wait!” The paladins paused as Katherine, Leah and Tiana came rushing out to where they sat on Keith’s hover bike.

“Katherine and Tiana have something to say.”

“And so does Leah,” remarked Katherine with a smirk, “She just doesn’t want to admit it.”

“Okay, fine.” Leah hopped up on the bike and hugged all of them. “Don’t die, that’s an order. Please?” She hugged Keith, who turned bright red. “Don’t die, okay, Mr. Stubborn? I might miss your emo presence.”

“Ooo, Keith and Leah, sitting in a tree-”

“Shut up, Lance!”

Tiana was next. She just shyly waved. “Come back in one piece.”

Katherine made a lunge for the bike. “Don’t die, please, please, please, come back alive!” Pidge, Shiro, and Hunk returned the embrace, and Keith just sort of nodded. She kissed Lance on the cheek, and his face turned redder than Keith’s had. “Come back to me safe, okay, Lance?” Lance nodded, unable to make a sound. Keith turned around with a smug smile, opening his mouth, and Shiro groaned inwardly.

Lance glared. “Don’t… say… a… _single_ … word, Kogane. Not _one_ word.” Keith just kept the smug smile and turned back around. It was time to leave. Katherine stepped back and waved, as the paladins roared off to their final fight together.

“What are you going to do, paladins? I’ve set a magical time bomb that’s due to explode whether I die or not. Do you save the people, or do you kill me?”

“Hunk, Lance, Keith, Pidge, you guys go help people out. I’ll take care of the witch.” They nodded and ran off.

“How noble of you, black _paladin._ ” Haggar spat the name out like a curse. “Getting rid of your friends. What a pathetic leader you are, letting them run wild. You should have taught them with a stick. With discipline.”

“A good leader doesn’t lead by fear.”

“And what do _you_ lead by, hmm, Champion? Respect, I suppose? She warped right next to him, and he barely dodged her glowing talons. “Respect is easily lost when one who commands more of it comes along.” She slammed him with a wall of energy, and he was thrown backwards. He missed his armor, and wished it hadn’t needed to be repaired. She put a foot on his chest, preventing him from getting up. She stomped hard, and he felt his ribs go _crack_.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he gasped, “I do lead by respect, but that is not all I lead by, neither is it what they follow me for.” A sniper dot appeared on Haggar’s chest, and she growled. “They follow me for, and I lead by, love.” Hunk and Lance opened fire, spraying bullets around the room, forcing Haggar to keep moving. “And that’s why I know, even when I ordered them to do something else…” Keith and Pidge began slicing at Haggar, trying to hit her. Keith drew his luxite blade in a deadly double bladed attack. “If they think I’m even remotely in danger…” Keith and Pidge both took a stab at her while two bullets, one from Hunk and one from Lance hurtled straight for her heart. “They’ll come swooping in to save me, like my guardian angels.” The blades connected, the bullets found their mark. “And that’s why people like you will never win. Because there will always be more people like us. Who follow their hearts, and lead with love.” Haggar toppled to the ground, a permanent look of surprise on her face. Pidge and Keith pulled Shiro to his feet.

“Are you alright?” Shiro nodded.

“Fine. Thanks guys. But we do need to get the people out.”

“Most people are already out.” The first of the explosions wracked the building, and Shiro heard screams. When he regained his balance, he ran towards them. A woman was trapped under a pile of rubble. He frantically dug through it until he freed her, and she uncurled off of a young girl who she’d been protecting.

“Please,” she gasped, “The rest of the class, they’re still in there, I need to get to them- unh.” She stumbled, and Shiro caught her. The other paladins raced over, ready to help, and Pidge helped the woman up.

“You need to get out of here. We’ll help the children.” She nodded, and the little girl tugged her away. Shiro heaved the collapsed roof up, to reveal twenty children, some barely breathing. Wonders never ceasing, the castle landed outside, ready with cyro pods. The children didn’t move.

“Get out from there! I can’t hold this forever!” They stayed put.

“Let me handle this.” Keith crouched down next to the children. “Hey,” he asked in a soft voice Shiro had never heard him use before, “are ya’ll scared?” They nodded. “Okay, this sucks, doesn’t it?” more nods. “Do ya’ll want to be safe?” another round of nodding. “Can you come out of there, then?”

“But… but what if he drops it?” Keith smiled.

“He won’t. This is Shiro. He’s the kindest, bravest, strongest person I know. He won’t drop it.” She tilted her head.

“Is he your big brother?” Keith looked taken aback before smiling and nodding.

“Yes. He’s my big brother, and for today, he’s yours too. Now, why don’t you come on out of there so he can put down the roof? And could you take your friends who can’t move?” They all nodded happily and crawled out, some dragging out other injured children. Shiro let the roof go, and it thudded to the ground. The paladins picked up the injured children and ran them to the castle. By some miracle, there were just enough pods. Then they went back for the rest of the children.

“How did you know how to do that, to calm them?” Keith smiled up at him.

“That’s what you said to me when we first met, minus the roof part. You wanted me to trust you, and I did.” Shiro’s heart felt warm and tingly. Keith had learned from him. More explosions rocked the building. They didn’t have much time. Hunk had at least five children his arms, and everyone else had two or three. Shiro scooped the remaining children in his arms and ran for the stairs. He set them down and they ran, crying for the castle. Then Shiro heard a cry for help. There was a child still trapped, crying. He ran back and picked her up. And then more explosions sounded. Shiro’s heart sank to his shoes. They would never make it. He ran to a window.

“Keith!” He looked up. “Catch her!” Keith put all of the other children down without question and Shiro threw the kid out the window. Keith caught her and set her down, and then his eyes widened as he realized why Shiro had done that.

“Shiro! NO!” Shiro looked him right in the eye.

“Keith, take care of them.” And then the building exploded.

_____________

 

“Shiro? Hunk? Lance? Keith? Guys, where are you?!” Keith opened his eyes. Where was he? That was a good question.” He tried to move, but his arm was trapped under… something. Then the pain flared to life, and he screamed. Footsteps pattered towards him, and whatever was making everything dark moved. Keith squinted in the sudden sunlight. Pidge.

“Keith, can you move?”

“No, I think, I think it’s my arm, no, my arm is trapped, Pidge, help, you have to get me out of here, you have to-”

“Keith, calm down. I’m not going to leave you here. Hold on.” The rubble shifted, and Pidge now had a giant lever, pushing giant rocks onto it until the massive block of stone shifted off of his arm. He rolled away, groaning as he looked at his arm. Broken.

“Allura is stuck in the castle, but she’s trying to get out. Come on, we have to find the others.

The others weren’t in much better. Lance’s leg was broken, and so were Hunk’s ribs. But they couldn’t find Shiro.

“Shiro? Shiro!” Keith spotted a metal arm sticking out of a rock pile and he stumbled towards it, calling Shiro’s name. He cleared rubble with his uninjured arm and Hunk and Pidge joined him. Lance dragged himself over on his elbows, helping as best he could. Then they uncovered Shiro.

His back was broken, and his neck was at an unnatural angle, but he was still breathing. There were deep lacerations in his sides, but his heart was still beating. Keith tried to pull him up, tried to carry him, but he couldn’t he was too weak. Then Hunk put himself under Shiro’s other shoulder, hoisting him off the ground, Pidge lifting one leg, Lance forcing himself to his feet to take the other. Apart, they would have been too weak to carry him, but together, they were strong. And they carried him, all the way back to the Castle of Lions, all the way to safety. Together.

______________

 

“Paladins, I have bad news.” Keith looked up from where he was sitting in front of a stasis pod.

“What?”

“That pod, as you know, is not designed to heal, only to keep in stasis and extract memories.” The paladins nodded. “Well, I’m afraid… He’s really badly injured and…. If we try to transfer him to another pod, um, well, he’ll… die.” Keith’s heart plummeted to his shoes. He’d known Shiro was terribly injured, but he had hoped…

“So, you saved his life, but he’ll have to stay in that pod. Forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry... one more chapter so I can burn this fic behind me... This is what happens when I try to write angst.


	7. All Shall Fade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so, this is where implied death, and actual death which wasn't originally going to be in here, comes into play. I am sorry in advance for this chapter. Keith and Allura got together at the end of the old show, and while I don't really want it to happen, I am not going to give a future for either of them just in case.

Shiro opened his eyes. What had happened? He remembered the child, Keith, the window, the explosion. How was he still alive? Was he still alive?”

“It worked!” Pidge’s voice. That was it. He had to be alive. Or maybe Pidge was dead. Huh. Well, at least if he was dead he’d have some company. No, wait, this was the castle of lions. He wasn’t dead! What a relief.

The other paladins crowded around him. “Hi, uh, Shiro. How do you feel?”

“It’s kind of strange, but I don’t feel… anything.”

“Pidge,” complained Lance, “I thought you said he’d be able to feel things!”

“Give it a minute! It’ll kick in in a second!”

“What’ll kick in? What happened guys?” He brought his hand to his head, but… Wait. This was his left arm. Why was it metal? Had his limbs been destroyed?

“Shiro,” Why did Keith sound so cautious? And why was his arm in a cast? Now that Shiro looked, all of them except Pidge seemed to have some kind of injury.

“Shiro, the explosion… It almost killed you.”

“I know, but what happened?”

“You remember when the ship had King Alfor?”

“Yeah, of course I do.”

“Um… You remember when we extracted Sendak’s memories?”

“Yes,” Shiro replied impatiently. What was the point of this?

“Well, there were no cyro pods when we pulled you out of the rubble, so we put you in the stasis pods. You know, the ones that won’t heal you.”

“So?”

“So… You weren’t able to come out without dying.”

Shiro could see where this was going. And he didn’t like it. “And…”

“And we extracted your memories and put them in a robot,” Keith pushed it all out in one breath. “Well, Pidge Coran and Hunk did the robot thing, but, yeah.”

“I’m a robot now?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, Shiro, but we all just wanted you back so bad, and…” Shiro felt dizzy, and he put his head in his hands. He was a robot. A fully metal robot. And based on the feeling from his hands (Oh, that was good, he could feel things now), he didn’t really have a face. Just smooth metal. What had happened to him?

__________

 

It was a running joke once Shiro got used to his new form to call him the “Shiro-bot.” Lance had affectionately painted a smiley face on the smooth mask, and put a blob of white on his head that he said was his hair. Pidge had tried to make a new robot body that looked like his old self, but then they discovered that Shiro’s consciousness had melted into his new form and couldn’t be moved. So the smiley faced Shiro-bot stayed.

He watched the paladins grow up without ever aging himself. He watched Pidge grow into a beautiful young lady, get married and have kids, although she still spent most of her time in the castle, bringing her kids with her so Shiro had a new generation of children to baby-sit. Lance was still a flirt when he grew up, he just diverted all of it to his beautiful wife, and was a great father. Hunk never got married, but stayed a fun uncle for the other’s children. Keith spent most of his time patrolling the universe in the red lion, Shiro occasionally joining him in the black lion.

He was there for them. He was in the hospital, freaking out with Sam when Pidge had her first baby. He was there when Lance cried harder than his wife at his squalling newborn. He was there when the team buried their beloved, orange-haired space uncle, comforting Allura.

Then one day the Shiro-bot broke down. Nothing Pidge or Hunk could do would fix it. He could still hear them, could still see them, and they talked to him. After a long time, when he could see them getting old, they stopped coming as much. One day Allura told him that Pidge, Hunk and Lance were all in a nursing home, not allowed to get out of bed. Keith still came by though, still with the mullet, although it was pure white. Allura was always worrying about Keith, so old out in space, all alone. Then one day, Keith stopped coming. Allura talked to him more, didn’t go out to meet the other paladins anymore. He could see that she was old too, despite always having white hair. She came down every morning and talked to him, went and got food and talked to him more. Then one morning… She didn’t come. The castle shut down that day. And Shiro was by himself. In the dark. Waiting.

________________

 

“Katie? I don’t think we should do this.”

“Oh, hush, Sam, why not?”

“It’s creepy and could fall apart.”

“Stop worrying! We’ll be fine! Who knows what cool things we could find in here! It could be the Castle of Lions!”

“What, from great-great- grandma’s stories?”

“She said she played in its halls with a robot! And they’re not stories, they’re true!”

“They’re just stories. Stories our deranged great-great-grandma thought of.”  
“Stop that! She wasn’t deranged! Her mom fought in the war!”

“What, the great Galra war? That was ages ago, and the lions are myths anyway.”

“No they’re not! They’re real! I _know_ I’d get the green lion!”

“Mmhm.” Her brother clearly wasn’t listening.

                        “You’d get the yellow lion, Akira would get the red, and Layna would get the blue. Speaking of them, where are they?”

“Out in this hellhole of a junkyard racing on their speeders. They’re both going to break their necks on those things.

            “Ah, well. You know how it is with brothers and sisters, always competing. Hey, What’s this?” She brushed dust off the humanoid object sitting on a couch. A robot! A child’s robot, based on the smiley face painted on it. Poor thing. It needed love. Love and a tune up. She would fix it, and then they would have a new friend. Katie knew, somewhere in her bones, that this robot, and this pile of junk were important, that they would lead her, her coward of a brother, and her friends to their destinies. Their destinies as paladins of Voltron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end. I made it purposefully ironic that all those hints that Shiro will die are being made in the new seasons, and he's the only one to live. Katie and Sam are Pidge's great-great-great grandchildren, named for Pidge and her dad, while Akira (named for all the Korean names I see for Keith, the new Keith) and Layna (female Lance, Akira is the brother) are Lance's great-great-great-grandchildren. The last part was just so Shiro isn't alone forever. I'm not going to write a fic about it or anything, so yeah, that's it. I mean, if I wanted to write my own fic for it I could change a few names and publish my own book.


End file.
